Here Today…
It’s Friday Fictioneers time, hosted by Rochelle.
I haven’t felt very well the last couple of days and couldn’t come up with anything cleverly witty, but I finally put something together. This week’s photo comes from Jennifer Pendergast.
To read all the other stories for this week, click on the blue froggy.
Copyright Jennifer Pendergast
Bartholomew stared out across the desert, watching it shimmer in the heat. Seemingly barren, he knew it teemed with life. Such rugged beauty, stretching endlessly into the distance, a primitive land where only the strong could survive.
He reached into his backpack and retrieved his camera, snapping off a shot. “Desert framed by Railway Carriage” would look good on his wall, he thought.
Finally tearing his gaze from the awe-inspiring sight, he motioned with his hand. The sides of the carriages dropped, disgorging trucks, bulldozers, all manner of equipment.
The desert’s all very well, he thought, but everybody loves a mall.
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Friday Fictioneers
draliman on life 
Nature — and developers — abhor a vacuum. Feel better!
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Soon there’ll be cars and teenagers hanging round, the whole shebang 😦
Thanks!
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There’s no stopping progress.
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I wish there was 😦
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One person’s oasis is another person’s shopping destination
Sorry you aren’t feeling well, hope you feel better soon.
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I would prefer the oasis.
Thanks!
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Hope you feel better soon.
Hmmm, I don’t like the heat, but I don’t like malls either…but I love trains. 🙂
Take care, hope you make a full and speedy recovery. 🙂
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I like trains and the idea of a desert but I don’t do well in the heat!
I’m a bit better today, thanks 🙂
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Hope your better soon, although your stories with a message are poignant. Funny how our mood affects our writing like it does.
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Yes, I’ve noticed how I feel dictates whether it’s a comedy or whatever.
Glad you liked my story.
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Please ask him to pack up…I prefer the desert….Nice one.
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Me too. Maybe he’ll go bust before he does too much damage.
Glad you liked it!
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A fantastic take on the prompt, loved it. Say no to the shopping mall, it was a great ending 🙂
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Glad you liked it! There are enough shopping centres and not enough nature.
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Oh! this is perfect. No need to apologize. That last line caught me off guard.
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He won’t let anything get in the way of his bank balance. I’m glad you liked it!
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At least he took a photo for posterity. Now he’ll work towards prosperity, but I hope he gets kicked in his posterior(y) 😀 Great zinger at the end D-Man
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Ha, nice play on words 🙂
Yeah, at least he has a photo to remind him what he’s spoiled.
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Malls are instant happiness.. yeah.. and i guess, we are losing touch with nature.
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I’m hoping it all falls through and he leaves the desert alone.
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You are right and especially for teenagers – you can’t stop them from going to the mall! Good story! Nan
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I’m sure the kids are very excited a new shopping centre is on the way! I wouldn’t be 😦
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Oh I love the hypocrisy of him! Nice one. Hope you’re feeling better now.
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He’s very much “oh, look at how beautiful it is, now dig it up” isn’t he? Glad you liked it!
I’m a bit better today, thanks 🙂
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I hope you get well quickly, Ali. Your story shows your great regard for nature. Contractors only seem to see the money. They dig up, build, and move on. The worst are the ones who build buildings that don’t have proper support and fall down on people’s heads. Well done. — Suzanne
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I understand the need for new houses and the like, but nature needs protecting too. I’m sure we have more than enough shopping centres.
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HaHa! What a surprising twist. Feel better soon! 😀
ps. We are fighting off ‘developers” periodically here too.
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Glad you liked my story! I think I’m a little better today 🙂
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That had me chuckle at the end. The nerve, to look for the best spot for a picture, and then to dg it all up. Great take on the prompt, too. And, I hope you feel better soon.
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I bet he puts a “before and after” picture on his wall too. Here’s the desert and then here’s my wonderful shopping centre.
I’m a bit better today, thanks!
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Malls are steadily vanishing from America, often bankrupted. But maybe we’ll get a few mall speculators sealed into their own parking cement, before they’re all gone.
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Now I have an image of them up to their waists in cement frantically waving their arms around while people stand around and laugh 🙂
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What a perfect place for a new Mecca!
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Shall I put you down for a transfer? Nice desert location. Plenty of parking.
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Only if it’s haunted by an old Indian spirit like my current store is!
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Don’t tell me your Mecca was built on an old Indian burial ground? Don’t go into the light!
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*gasp!*
http://evilsquirrelsnest.com/2014/07/21/the-ghost-of-mecca/
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Hee hee.
I remember that post now 🙂
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Well done, especially considering yiu are under the weather. I’m envious–I’m not that creative when I’m sick!
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I’m glad you liked it! I was beginning to despair when suddenly this eco-story popped into my head 🙂
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cleverly written as could be expected from you. but get well soon. 🙂
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Thanks!
I’m starting to feel better now, thanks. Just a bit of a cold, I think.
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I’m so sick and tired of over development and this sort of greed. Grrrrr… Next we’ll have malls floating on water? Or has that been done.
Really liked this one, doc. I hope you’re feeling better soon
Ellespeth
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I wouldn’t be surprised if some old ships get converted into shopping centres. I think some have become casinos in the past.
I’m a bit better today, thanks! Definitely on the mend.
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Great story. Developers are always cutting down trees to build shops or apartments. 😦
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Indeed they are. There should be more protection.
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Sorry to hear you were ill, but this one was definitely worth holding out for. I love the flip in character there. Good stuff!
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Thanks, I’m glad you liked it. He’s not going to let anything get in the way of his bank balance, no matter how lovely he thinks it is.
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So he got the last shot before he destroyed it all. If only he truly understood.
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I don’t think he ever will. What’s he going to do with the photo? Proudly proclaim at a dinner party “look, I destroyed that”?
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That’s how some people think. But it wold be nice if he came to his senses and became an advocate.
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It would.
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Didn’t see that coming – a story in two parts. I love his name. Put me off the scent completely for some reason.
He could sell the final picture at the poster shop in the mall.
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He should really have had a more hard-core name. Like “Brett Masterson” or something. I can totally see Brett Masterson destroying the desert.
That’s a good idea for the photo. “How it used to look…”
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Great story! Even though he is awe-inspired he won’t let it get in the way of ‘progress’. Sad but true, unfortunately. Hope you’re feeling better. 🙂
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Money’s the bottom line for him, sadly.
I’m a bit better today, thanks 🙂
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Oh, I hope it’s an inside mall with air conditioning. All that life is going to have find a new home, probably. Here I thought he cared! This is really a two-part story. Well done, Ali. I hope you’re feeling better soon.
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It’ll definitely be air-conditioned, given its location. I think all that life would rather he left the desert alone, though. He appreciates beauty but only cares about money 😦
I’m a lot better today, thanks 🙂
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Excellent! That last line put a real smile on my face — I couldn’t see that twist coming at all. 🙂
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I’m glad you liked it! I thought I’d start the story by making him seem like such a nice chap…
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What a lovely creative piece of writing! I’m really impressed. That first paragraph is excellent, as is the overall message. Progress stops for no man – or desert landscape! Hope you’re feeling better now. You did brilliantly to write this when you were ill. 🙂
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Thank you for such a lovely comment 🙂
Some people look at a natural environment and all they see is profit. Bartholomew seems to see both but prioritises the profit.
I’m feeling much better today, thanks!
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Glad to hear that. Take care.
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Dear Draliman,
I hesitate to ‘like’ this story lest my energy contribute to another desert being blighted by a mall, but it was funny and good and in reality, i loved it.
Aloha,
Doug
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Dear Doug,
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I think the world has enough shopping centres now. It’s time to look after the open spaces we have left.
Ali
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Great story Ali! And the beautiful desert has to suffer for the mall.
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I’m afraid so. Glad you liked the story 🙂
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Good story and your twist is always intelligent.
I agree about cutting down trees to build with all the abandoned buildings they could tear down but not the desert. Our deserts here are really vast, as in huge.
I told you I’ve four wheeled through the desert, amazing but very scary.
A person lost off trail usually is not found.
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Living in the UK, it’s difficult for me to imagine an open space that vast. Obviously we have large stretches of moorland where people can disappear (until the search parties find them) but nothing on the scale of the deserts in the US and elsewhere (or as dangerous).
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I’ve always known about our desert’s, parents drove through it on family vacations and I saw.
Until the week long jeep tour through the upper, lower deserts and foothills I had no idea of the vastness. What surprised me was the homesteads around a hill that had well water. No we never asked for water, drove very slow as to not disturb the dweller. Crazy people live back there. Really!!
Info just for you, ha.
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I guess it takes a certain sort of person to choose to live out away from everything in the middle of nowhere. Sounds kind of peaceful, though.
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Hope you’re feeling better soon!
Sad that this vision is a reality for lots of beautiful spaces nowadays. Hope we don’t turn them all into photo memories!
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I hope not too. We have precious few left here in England.
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The US still has a good bit of open space. I pray it lasts.
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Me too.
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So much truth in this! Although in the UK, it’s anything that resembles an open green space.
Another great story, and get well soon!
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I just worry that in a hundred years “green belt land” will be exactly that – little strips all that are left.
Glad you liked it, and I’m feeling much better now, thanks 🙂
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Draliman… you are too funny. Loved it.
Randy
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Glad you liked it!
Ali
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Dear Ali,
I hope you’re feeling better.
Your story’s so true of today’s shifting landscape. I’ve seen them come and go here, the mall’s I mean. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle,
Me too. Unfortunately when they go we’re left with a dilapidated building rather than the original nature.
I’m feeling better now, thanks!
Ali
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What a good story! He seems so appreciative of the natural scene, and then with a gesture he begins to destroy it. Sorry you’ve been unwell – and glad you’re on the mend.
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Nothing gets in the way of his bank balance, even though he thought it was a lovely scene.
Thanks for your well wishes!
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Get well soon… But even sick… you pulled it off. As the kids would say… “Whata sick twist to that prompt!” You’re right… I shouldn’t have…
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Ha 🙂 Thanks!
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Love that last line! Hope you are feeling better.
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Thanks, glad you liked it!
Yes, I’m a bit better this week. I’m putting any lingering issues down to Monday morning blues 🙂
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Progress has a way of eating at the vistas… better capture it in pictures before it’s too late.
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It does indeed. A photo’s better than nothing, I suppose. Though I’d rather have the actual desert.
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Nice one, I love the twist.
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Thanks, I set it all up to make him sound like a nature lover before turning it around.
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And you succeeded.
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🙂
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I love the surprise ending. Very clever.
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Thanks, I often like to pop in a twist at the end.
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I don’t love a shopping mall 😦 Give me good old Mother Nature any day! I like your thinking with this photo. Hope you’ve recovered and are fighting fit now 🙂
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I prefer nature to shopping malls for sure.
I’m recovered now, thanks – slightly deaf in my left ear, but that’s a common side-effect of a certain sort of cold for me (it’s usually the right ear, mind). Very weird.
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